KUALA LUMPUR – One hundred days have passed since the new cabinet was appointed, but things are not looking very bright for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government, as far as the opposition is concerned.
Barring a few positives, many opposition leaders see little to no improvement from the Perikatan Nasional administration led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that helmed Putrajaya for 17 months.
Chiefly, they singled out the government’s apparent misplaced priorities, with public funds seemingly being spent on non-essentials and with more pressing public issues being overlooked.
Speaking to The Vibes, Amanah vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar said the government started off on the wrong foot when Ismail Sabri chose to keep the majority of Muhyiddin’s cabinet, which was considered a failure.
From then, he said, the government continued to disappoint on multiple fronts in addressing issues directly plaguing the rakyat, such as the spiralling prices of basic items and food.
Noting Ismail Sabri’s requirement for all ministries to have a “wow factor” as part of their key performance index in their 100 days in power, the Pokok Sena MP said “the only wow” on people’s lips today is their apparent shock at the increasing prices of goods.
“What’s happening today is people are saying ‘wow, prices are increasing’. And it appears the government doesn’t seem to know how to address this issue of high living costs.
“With a cabinet of this size, they should be able to resolve this issue, but it appears they can’t. So what more can be expected of them? The priority must always be about the rakyat being able to put food on the table.”
Mahfuz said despite the opposition’s agreement to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government to ensure political stability, Ismail Sabri and company have failed to make full use of this.
“We tried to abide by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree for political stability, in order to allow the government to focus its effort on the pandemic and economy, but the government has failed.”
New cabinet hobbling from crisis to crisis
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the government has been embroiled in multiple crises since taking over federal power, and does not seem to have a clue about administering the country.
The Lembah Pantai MP acknowledged the political stability brought upon by Ismail Sabri since coming into power but said beyond that, nothing much deserves a pat on the back.
“They have been fantastic, amazing, I’d give a 100% mark for them. Everything seems to have increased. Prices of chicken, ice, vegetables, and even our blood levels,” he quipped.
“Put it simply, it’s terrible. I think the administration doesn’t know what it’s doing, and I don’t know how much longer they can stay (in power).
“It’s almost like they are hobbling from one crisis to another. We may have political stability, but whether we can have policy-making stability is another question.”
For a start, Fahmi said the prime minister should stop wasting the public’s money on appointing useless envoys and advisers, and that he should come to terms with how bloated the current government is.
He added that Ismail Sabri appears to be the most compromised head of administration in history, looking at how he seems to be held hostage by different quarters.
“He can’t go two steps this way without thinking about going two steps that way. He can’t seem to let go of anybody, because then that would leave his majority out the window.
“It feels like he is very distracted, not focused. Even in terms of the government and opposition MoU, there is a lot of pushback even within Umno and Bersatu on various points. Stop playing politics and focus on the rakyat,” he said.
Limited choices for ministers
DAP assistant political education director Ong Kian Ming does not see much light at the end of the tunnel for Ismail Sabri’s government, saying the prime minister is short of quality choices for ministerial positions, while his own capability to lead the cabinet and administration is limited.
According to the Bangi MP, Ismail Sabri was fortunate that the country’s vaccination programme had made great strides and the economy was able to open up faster than most countries when he took over the helm in Putrajaya.
That he had a competent health minister in Khairy Jamaluddin, compared to his predecessor Muhyiddin – who had Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba – had also helped the prime minister settle in during his early days.
But despite this, Ong said, Ismail Sabri has failed to take any obvious leadership position in steering the economy as it reopens further, and as the country settles into the endemic stage of Covid-19.
For Ong, the most significant move Ismail Sabri made in his 100 days as prime minister was to sign the MoU with Pakatan Harapan, giving him and his government some stability, at least until July next year.
“The most visible, but least fruitful thing he has done is to organise a whole bunch of Keluarga Malaysia events that are big on slogans and goodies but short on substance,” he said.
Lack of empathy for poor blights PM’s tenure
Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia deputy chairman S. Arutchelvan said other than retaining the old cabinet and making wasteful appointments, Ismail Sabri has also failed to show empathy for the poor with some of his policies, or lack thereof.
This includes slashing the free breakfast programme in schools and failing to announce the minimum wage increase or to find solutions to price hikes for goods.
Arutchelvan also took issue with the Keluarga Malaysia campaign, saying many policies do not represent this theme, including the government’s focus on the Bumiputera agenda and an ostensibly racially lopsided budget.
“The government also failed to deal with the issue concerning the Pandora Papers, failed to tax the rich, and appears to be condoning corruption,” he said, adding that the failure to address issues of sexual harassment is another sore point for Ismail Sabri.
However, he said not all is bad with the current administration so far, with four points worth mentioning.
They are the signing of the government-opposition MoU, the promise on the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the appointment of Khairy Jamaluddin as health minister and the appeal to Singapore for leniency towards death row prisoner Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam. – The Vibes, December 10, 2021
.jpg)
.jpeg)
